If I recall, the first article referred to the 'in-between' animators that have a heavy workload and are allegedly underpaid.

Why would mentioning the earnings of the animation director have anything to do with that article?

Am I missing something?

yeah i think you're right. i don't think many people thought the animators with the more impressive titles, the animation directors, episode directors, series directors, were making very little money. but it is interesting to see how much they make. it seems like a little disingenuous to say animators in general aren't struggling financially because the big names make good money

A potential factor to how bad the anime recession has been these last 2 years is this article. These talented people are overworked and underpaid. Wonder if paying subscriptions on sites like CrunchyRoll can help at all increasing their annual salary. They should be earning $35,000 at least.

Maybe the moral of the story is, "If you're an animator and you slave you ass off for pennies for long enough and get enough experience you can become an animation director?"
It's not a business I'd want to be involved in, but I thank them for their sacrifice. Of course if you're a career inbetweener then there might be something wrong with you. Or you're just really unlucky.

How the industry manages to survive right now is a big mystery to me, considering only few hundred DVDs are sold per volume nationwide for many of the titles out there.

For someone in the industry, I'm a bit surprised by this statement given the fact historic sales have shown DVDs don't support (but do help) this industry.

Ctimene's Lover wrote:

Wonder if paying subscriptions on sites like CrunchyRoll can help at all increasing their annual salary.

Negative. These deals are between US sites and US distributors unless specific licensing has been set up through Japanese distributors.
Given the expense, I seriously doubt this to be the case. CR (and the like) simply can not afford to license shows from Japan without significant assistance.

Even with this report, doubts still linger. Sorry, but if the speculated average cost of an episode is $150,000, then the math simply isn't adding up for the monthly amounts.

How the industry manages to survive right now is a big mystery to me, considering only few hundred DVDs are sold per volume nationwide for many of the titles out there.

For someone in the industry, I'm a bit surprised by this statement given the fact historic sales have shown DVDs don't support (but do help) this industry.

No, most shows are funded either by DVD sales or possibly merchandising sales for long running shows. There are no other sources of income since they pay for everything up until it airs. There is no advertiser revenue unless you are a top 3 show.

PetrifiedJello wrote:

Ctimene's Lover wrote:

Wonder if paying subscriptions on sites like CrunchyRoll can help at all increasing their annual salary.

Negative. These deals are between US sites and US distributors unless specific licensing has been set up through Japanese distributors.
Given the expense, I seriously doubt this to be the case. CR (and the like) simply can not afford to license shows from Japan without significant assistance.

Hmm, I wonder what could be the cause of all this? Maybe the studios and executive producers are being tight and mean with all those big profits they have made. Looks like those animators should withdraw their talant until they are justifiably paid for all their effort and time sacrificed.

That's a part of the problem. In Japan the concept of royalties awarded to creators and animators is quite unheard of, indeed it is felt to be rude to even ask. They get a flat fee paid at completion and that's it. If whatever production becomes a mega hit, tough darts.

How can you even measure the salary of anyone who's paid by episodes/drawings? I mean, in a month you could work on 5 episodes, next month 10 and the month after 15. So I'd say it's something by far more complicated than just saying 800$ monthly.

If I recall, the first article referred to the 'in-between' animators that have a heavy workload and are allegedly underpaid.

IIRC, the pay ranges were ranked by age, not position. Also, as mentioned in one of Cindy H. Yamauchi's blog entries, the responses were likely skewed because the higher paid people didn't respond much. I see the same thing happen in open salary surveys in my industry (IT), where the survey averages are probably always lower than the reality. Her remarks on all the angles of this make a lot of sense to me. You have to click all three separate links to read the three different blog entries (I, II, III).

She touches on all the points and provides her industry insights, plus her own experience to compare. Nothing unusual happening, nothing particularly evil, just the normal evolution that occurs in economics. An evolution that continually puts some people out of work and promotes others to higher position and pay, and changes the dynamics of an industry. (Socialists should probably skip it... you'll just be irritated .)

That said, according to the numbers in the article, if I decide to go into anime production, I'll be practicing with the piano or the word processor instead of the artist's pen. The directors don't make much either comparatively, but I may be confusing their actual roles with American ones in TV.

Reading this makes me wonder if some animators will start thinking of going independent, like paying the complete cost of producing something themselves in exchange for entitlement to all profit generated. I think that video "Training with Hinako" was completely independent, I think its creator must have lots of dough by now.

Reading this makes me wonder if some animators will start thinking of going independent, like paying the complete cost of producing something themselves in exchange for entitlement to all profit generated.

It's very difficult for them to produce anything elaborate (and therefore competitive). While the talent might be there, financing isn't. Most anime projects are simply too niche and unprofitable, so banks won't lend money.

In terms of studios led by anime creators, Gonzo made a valiant attempt at raising their own capital and becoming much less dependent on other companies. While their attempt ultimately ended in failure, I doubt shows like Gankutsuou would've been possible had large advertising agencies and broadcasters called the shots.

Travel back in time (and maybe have your gender swapped) to seven different periods of Japanese history, all from the comfort of your couch.― The history of Japanese civilization is expansive, predating the Common Era by 10,000 years (the Jomon period). There's much more ground to cover compared to what kids get in U.S. history classes in high school, which rarely cover anything before the Boston T...

Junji Ito's death-stench horror gets the deluxe treatment with a new hardcover omnibus, but the subject matter might not work for everyone.― Junji Ito is inarguably one of the masters of horror manga, utilizing both horror (physical revulsion) and terror (psychological reaction) to create gut-churning tales of the world gone mad. To a degree, he carries this out in his two-volume series Gyo from 200...

Voice actor/director/professional Dungeons & Dragons player Liam O'Brien returns to the podcast after a 5-year hiatus to discuss his roles in Fate/Zero and Sailor Moon, along with the landscape for anime voice acting now and what it's like to be Gollum.― ANNCast Episode 234: Podcastoes O'Brien Get the Flash Player to see this player. Voice actor/director/professional Dungeons & Dragons player Liam ...

If you went to an anime convention this summer or have used the internet lately, you may notice anime fans seem to have fallen in love with Steven Universe. Why? Because the show loves them right back.― If you've been to an anime convention in the past year, you've probably seen colorful, gem-studded cosplay like this filling the hallways. Photo credit links: top left, top right, bottom left, bottom...

If you've got questions for the director of the high-flying fantasy series The Pilot's Love Song, we've potentially got answers for you!― We've been given the opportunity to interview The Pilot's Love Song director Toshimasa Suzuki, and we need your help! NISA, who will be releasing the fantasy action drama The Pilot's Love Song on bluray September 22nd, asked for fan questions for Mr. Suzuki, whos...

Bee-Train's 2001 girls-with-guns classic returns on Blu-Ray, and holds up surprisingly well, despite some mediocre animation.― Not all older series deserve the Blu-Ray treatment. For some it is because the show just isn't as iconic as people might like to think, while for others it's because the quality was never BD worthy in the first place. Noir, fortunately, does hold up well enough that its tran...

Egypt Arc is JoJo in peak condition, as memorable and engaging an adventure as you could hope for. JoJo's Bizarre Adventure is back.― When we last left our heroes, they'd just arrived on the shores of Egypt, escaping the literal jaws of defeat in order to finally save Jotaro's mother. The journey there had been a lengthy and sometimes inconsistent one, with their various adventures indeed being plen...

The creator of the hit manga, recently adapted into a popular anime series, talks about her inspirations, how she got her start, and what it's like to watch your manga become a TV show.― As you might guess from the story, the main character of the story is a high school roughneck named Ryu Yamada. Yamada meets cute, quiet, and studious Urara Shiraishi, who is his complete opposite in almost every wa...